The Return of Glooscap
After the Great Chief had rescued the grandmother and Marten and had destroyed Winpe, he built a canoe, and went across to the island where the Kwemoos—the Loons—lived.
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“The Return of Glooscap” from Glooscap the Great Chief, and Other Stories; Legends of the Micmacs by Emelyn Newcomb Partridge, 1913.
After the Great Chief had rescued the grandmother and Marten and had destroyed Winpe, he built a canoe, and went across to the island where the Kwemoos—the Loons—lived. They were friends of Glooscap, and he had done them many favours. So when they knew that the Great Chief was among them they were very glad. They held feasts and games for many days.
One day, while Glooscap was on the island of the Loons, he was standing on the shore of a lake, and the chief of the Loons, seeing him standing there, came to ask a favour. But as he drew near the Great Chief he was so awed that he did not dare come to him, and so he flew around the lake. Three times he came near, and each time he could not speak, but flew away again around the lake. At last Glooscap called to him, saying, “Come to me."
Then the Loon flew to him, and the Great Chief taught him a shrill, doleful cry, and said, “Whenever you or your people need my help, call upon me in this way, and I will hear you.”
After many days spent on the island of the Loons, Glooscap entered his canoe once more with Marten and the grandmother, and soon they came to a broad, beautiful river. They travelled along this quiet river until suddenly, without any warning, the river rushed down into the earth, and was swept along under ground between cataracts so dark and frightful that Marten and the old grandmother died of terror. The canoe was drawn along with awful swiftness through the darkness, and for a long time Glooscap could only sit quietly and guide it past the rocks. At last he saw far ahead a faint light, and then the canoe left the Cavern of Darkness and entered into the sunlight, where the water was smooth, and flowers were in bloom.
Glooscap drew the canoe upon the bank; then he took Marten by the hand and said to him,
“Uchkeen, my younger brother, numchaase, arise!” Marten opened his eyes, thinking that he had only been asleep.
Then the Great Chief took the grandmother by the hand and said, “Noogumee, numchaase—arise!” Then the grandmother came to life; and she, too, believed that she had only been sleeping.
Near the landing place was a lonely wigwam, and in this wigwam was an old warrior, who had magical skill. He knew the power of the Great Chief, and wished to make a trial of his own skill in magic. So he determined to freeze Glooscap, if he could. As night set in, he brought in an armful of wood, and said, “We will have a cold night; the sky is red.''
So the two sat and smoked through the night, and talked. It grew colder and colder, until the cold put the fire out; and then the old wife and the grandmother and Marten died. But the two magicians talked on until morning as though nothing had happened.
In the morning Glooscap brought Marten and the grandmother and the old wife to life, and then he invited his friend to feast with him in the evening.
The Great Chief now built a lodge, and in the evening the magician came to visit him. After the feast, the Great Chief said, slyly, “There will be a great frost to-night; the sky was red at sunset.''
Then the magician knew that Glooscap would take his turn at magic.
Glooscap made a blazing fire, and the two smoked and talked as they had done the night before, as though nothing were happening. It grew colder and colder, until the fire died out and grandmother and Marten again died of the cold, although the Great Chief had wrapped many furs about them. Then the poles of the wigwam snapped, and the trees and the great rocks outside cracked and fell in pieces.
In the morning Glooscap brought his dead companions back to life, and made ready to set out upon his journey. He took leave of his friend, but neither spoke of their great play with magic.
The Great Chief travelled on until he came to the sea. Then he sang his magic song which the whales obeyed, and at once a large whale came to him. After he had placed the grandmother and Marten upon the whale's back, he himself stepped on, and the whale soon carried them to the opposite shore, far away.
They landed near an Indian village, where lived an old Indian, who was so misshapen and ugly that he had always failed in winning a wife, for the Indian maidens would not even look at him. His name was Mikchichk—Tortoise.
When Glooscap and the grandmother and Marten reached the wigwam, Mikchichk was on the shore spearing a salmon: but when he saw them, he hastened home and welcomed them. He gave the Great Chief the place of honour in the wigwam, and prepared a feast.
When the news that Glooscap was in the village had spread about, preparations were made for a public feast and a dance. A crier was sent about the village, calling out as loud as he could:
“How! How! How!” inviting every one to the feast.
Now the chief had two unmarried daughters, both of them very beautiful; and Glooscap advised Mikchichk to seek one of them as his wife.
“Long ago, I gave up all thoughts of securing a wife," said Mikchichk. “I do not please maidens."
“But I will make you pleasing to every one," said the Great Chief. So Glooscap gave Mikchichk coat and leggings, and best of all, his magical belt. And Mikchichk was no longer an ugly, deformed old man! The magical belt had transformed him into a young and handsome Indian brave. He went to the feast, and he could leap and run and play ball and wrestle as well as any one there.
But in the midst of his enjoyment he met with disaster. It was in a game of ball; Mikchichk caught the ball, and was running for dear life to the post, dodging right and left to avoid his pursuers—for all the other braves in the game were jealous of the handsome stranger, and all had joined in the pursuit. Mikchichk was driven straight to his own lodge. There was nothing left for him to do in order to escape, but to make a great spring over the lodge. Mikchichk tried to do this, but he missed his aim, and was caught on the ridgepole, just over the chimney-hole.
Glooscap had been inside the wigwam all this time, but he knew what was happening outside. And when Mikehichk landed on the ridge-pole, Glooscap arose quietly, and piled fir boughs on the fire. This made a great smoke, which nearly stifled the Tortoise; and it so stained his coat that the marks never wore off, and are there until this day.
“You will kill me, Nulooks, my nephew,” shouted the Tortoise.
“No, I will not,'' answered Glooscap, “but on the contrary I will make you immortal. You shall never die; you may live on the land, and you may live in the water; although your head may be cut off, it shall not kill you. And your heart shall still beat, even though your body be cut in pieces."
Then Glooscap helped Mikehichk down, and Mikehichk said:
“I will leave this place, and go on."
And Glooscap said:
“Whither will you go?"
“I will go anywhere and everywhere," said Mikehichk. And with this he went away, and has ever since led a solitary life.
After the festival was over, Glooscap and his companions set out upon their journey. They travelled on until they came to the island home of Kitpooseagunow. Kitpooseagunow was himself a great giant and a friend and helper of Glooscap, but this did not prevent their having a hearty contest of magic, in which they both were nearly killed. As the two giants talked that evening in the wigwam, they called up a great frost by their magic, and the trees were torn up by their roots, and the great rocks were split; and all within the wigwam were frozen to death, except the two magicians, who barely escaped with their own lives.
In the morning they brought their dead companions to life, and then Kitpooseagunow said to Glooscap:
“To-night, let us go out in the seas in a canoe and catch whales by torchlight.”
Nothing could please the Chief better, for he was a great fisherman.
Now when Glooscap and Kitpooseagunow reached the shore, Glooscap could see plenty of rocks lying about, but there was no canoe. Kitpooseagunow picked up the largest of the rocks, and put it upon his head, and at once it became a great, beautiful canoe, large enough to carry the two giants. Then he took up a smaller stone, and this became a paddle. Then he split off a great splinter from a ledge of rock, and this was changed into a spear.
“Who will sit in the stern and paddle, and who will take the spear?” asked Glooscap.
“I will take the spear,” said Kitpooseagunow,
So Glooscap took the paddle, and soon they were far out at sea. By and by a whale glided by, and Kitpooseagunow plunged his spear into the back of the great creature and held it lightly above his head, as though it were a trout, although it reached above the clouds. Then he tossed it into the canoe.
“There, that will do," he said; “let us return.”
When they reached the shore, Kitpooseagunow took a stone knife and split the whale end to end in two equal parts. He gave one half to Glooscap, and took the other half for himself. Each carried home his portion, and roasted it for his evening meal, and then ate every morsel!
After the contest with Kitpooseagunow, the Great Chief travelled homeward, taking with him Marten and the grandmother, and at last they reached the lonely point of land, high above the water, where the Great Chief had his wigwam. And then Glooscap hung strings of beautiful beads and wampum about the old grandmother's neck, and made her young and beautiful again; and he made wonderful stones for her—the turquoise, and agate, and a cave full of purple amethyst—to make her so happy that she would forget the sufferings she had endured from Winpe, the giant sorcerer.
Partridge, Emelyn Newcomb. Glooscap the Great Chief, and Other Stories; Legends of the Micmacs. Sturgis & Walton, 1913.
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